Not getting adequate sleep could have vastly different outcomes for men and women. The former face a higher risk of cardiovascular disease while women could have an increased risk of developing osteoporosis and osteopenia, a new study has shown.
The new insights revealed the surprising extent your nightly routine can have on your body, and how your meals could be the ultimate culprit sabotaging it all. Diet had a bigger impact on sleep quality than BMI, particularly for women.
Dietary habits, gut microbiome, and mental health were better at predicting sleep problems than these traditional factors. This highlighted how what we eat can affect our sleep which, in turn, starts a domino effect of health issues.
Post-menopausal women were found to be at an even higher risk for associated osteoporosis than their younger counterparts when experiencing sleep issues. Sleep apnoea, which can include snoring as the body struggles to get enough air during the night, may lead to higher risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
While not sleeping long enough or deep enough could increase the risk of endocrinology diseases which include diabetes and hyperthyroidism. Intense changes in how long you sleep for and how deeply you sleep were also linked to increased inflammation and immune system issues.
Elsewhere in the study, behaviours like smoking and watching TV had the biggest impact with self-reported sleepiness. While sedentary lifestyle and levels of physical activity were also found to affect sleeping patterns.
Published in the Nature Medicine journal, the study followed thousands of people between 40 and 75 years old to see how sleep affects a person’s mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.
Scientists hope these results can see people struggling with a range of disorders get some personalised sleep-based interventions to prevent chronic conditions.
However, it was also noted that future studies could better examine the relationship between these diseases and sleep quality. But overall hoped it would encourage people to be more mindful of their diets and sleep in order to better their overall health.